Bathroom Trays With Inlay

These trays are built to hold various bathroom items such as lotion dispensers, toothbrush holders, and etc.

The first tray is made out of Luan mahogany, with black walnut inlay. The second tray is made out of Peruvian walnut, with white oak inlay. They are finished with home-brewed wiping varnish, using oil-based semi-gloss polyurethane thinned by half with mineral spirits. They are lined with dark brown faux suede fabric.

The trays measure: 11 1/2”L x 9 1/4”W x 2 1/4”H.

And now for the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly….....

The Good: The finish! I love wiping varnish! Just brush it on, let it sit for 3-4 minutes, then wipe the excess off. It’s a little slower build, but there are no runs, sags, or dust nibs. After it’s fully cured, lightly rub it with a brown paper bag, and it’s smooth as silk!

The Bad: I used splines to reinforce the miter joints, and in one of the joints in the walnut tray, there is a slight gap where I think the spline is just a hair narrower that it should have been. Naturally, I didn’t notice this until it was glued up….......

The Ugly: The inlays…...

I’ve never done inlays, and wanted to give them a try. And they’re not absolutely perfect. When routing out the groove for the inlays on a couple of the work pieces, the piece must have slipped a little on the router table, leaving small imperfections in the grooves. One of the grooves went a hair longer that it should have. In my defense however, the work pieces were on the smaller side, and I was routing them on the router table by hand, not using push pads, and wanted to be very sure not to get my fingers anywhere near the router bit! So, my being careful may have caused the imperfect grooves. Also, cutting the inlay pieces to exact length was a lot of trial and error, error being the operative word! I have a much greater respect for all of you who do inlays and marquetry so well!

Jim: Thanks for the compliment—and yeah, I probably am my own worst critic!

Candy: Thank you also! As far as bathroom use, they are basically encased in polyurethane, and should be exposed only to some steam, so they should hold up. As far as intact fingers—you’re an emergency room nurse, right? You guys can just sew those puppies back on, and they’re good as new, right?!

”You guys can just sew those puppies back on, and they’re good as new, right?!”Sure thing, Dean! You don’t mind if they get a little mixed up in the process, do you? After all, a finger is a finger, right? ;-b